


Unveiling Her Heart

by kajivar



Category: Dracula (TV 2013)
Genre: Canon LGBTQ Female Character, Canon Lesbian Character, F/F, Fix-It, LGBTQ Character, LGBTQ Female Character, Yuletide, Yuletide 2015
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-20
Updated: 2015-12-20
Packaged: 2018-05-07 21:42:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,294
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5471714
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kajivar/pseuds/kajivar
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Lucy confesses her feelings for Mina, who reacts badly.  But instead of seeking revenge for her pain, as Lady Jayne goaded her to do, Lucy lets Mina decide what step to take next.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Unveiling Her Heart

**Author's Note:**

  * For [heras](https://archiveofourown.org/users/heras/gifts).



"You need to leave."

Lucy could barely speak through the tightness of her throat. This was all some sort of horrible dream. She'd had nightmares like this before, fears running through her sleeping mind. She'd wanted to tell Mina so many times how she felt about her, but without knowing how her friend would react, she couldn't bring herself to take that step. With men it had always been so easy to flirt and tease. She did not truly care how they felt about her, and it was easy to keep them at arm's length and play them off one another. But Mina, Mina was different. Mina filled her with a longing so strong that Lucy had to take care that she didn't betray herself with too long of a glance or stumbling over words like a love-struck fool.

But Lady Jayne Wetherby had recognized her desires and convinced Lucy such longings were natural, and that Mina likely felt the same. The thought made her giddy with joy. In the past, whenever she'd brushed a kiss against Mina's cheek or touched her hair or just laid curled together, quiet and comfortable, Lucy had wanted so much to tell Mina how she felt, but fear -- and those awful dreams of how Mina might react -- held her back. Now she had the courage.

"But, Mina," she pleaded, unable to bear the look in her friend's eyes. She wished she could take the words all back.

"Please, Lucy," Mina said, and Lucy felt like her heart was shattering into a million pieces.

She did as Mina requested and went back to see Lady Wetherby, who tried to convince her that Mina had been afraid, not disgusted. But what Jayne suggested next left her feeling unsettled. With the pain of rejection so fresh in her mind, it did seem somewhat appealing to make Mina feel that same pain, to be betrayed by Jonathan. Hurting Mina, however, was the last thing she wanted to do, and when Jayne kissed her to show her how to seduce a man, she was all the more certain that it was Mina's soft lips she wanted to kiss, and not Jonathan's.

But how to approach Mina again? Was their friendship lost forever, or could it survive if she only pretended she'd never made her confession? What was worse, to hide a part of herself in shame or lose Mina forever?

As it turned out, Mina came to her first. Lucy had been in her room, in bed, miserable and still unsure what to do, when she heard her mother's voice in the hall. "I'm so glad you're here, Mina. Something has been troubling Lucy for days, and she won't tell me what it is. I'm sure her closest friend can help her, though. Are you all right, my dear? You look like you haven't been sleeping well either. Is everything all right with you and Jonathan?" Mina murmured a reply, but Lucy couldn't make it out.

Her mother tapped on her door and slid it open. "Look who's here to see you, Lucy," she said. "I'll have some tea brought up for you."

Lucy lifted her head to find Mina standing in the doorway, looking tired and just as unsure as Lucy felt herself. "Mina," she said, forcing a smile as she sat up. "It's so nice to see you. I have missed you."

Mina glanced back through the door as if she were debating turning and running, but she closed the doors and took a few hesitant steps toward the bed instead. “I wanted to apologize,” she said. “For what I said to you.”

Lucy wasn’t sure what she had been expecting, but it wasn’t that. “For what you said?”

“What you said…surprised me,” Mina said. She seemed unable to look directly at Lucy, keeping her eyes on the window, the flowers on the table beside her bed, anywhere but Lucy’s face. “I was needlessly cruel to say that our friendship was a pretense. Of course it hasn’t. You have always been a dear friend to me.”

“I frightened you,” Lucy said slowly. At least that’s what Lady Wetherby had said, and she wondered if she wasn’t the person she was, would such a confession have frightened her, too? But she couldn’t imagine hurting Mina the way she’d been hurt.

“A little,” Mina admitted. She sat down on the edge of the bed, but she still wasn’t meeting Lucy’s eyes. “I was confused.”

“Lady Wetherby told me what I felt was natural,” Lucy said softly, twisting her hands together in her lap. “I suspect now she was misleading me.” Something about the way she’d tried to turn Lucy’s pain into thoughts of vengeance and manipulation was not sitting right with her. Jayne had been so very persuasive, but the thought of hurting Mina pained her heart.

Mina finally looked at Lucy. “I don’t understand it,” she said. “But what you said, when you said it – it felt more honest and real than anything Jonathan has ever said to me.”

Now Lucy hesitated. She wasn’t sure if now was the time to downplay the encounter, so instead she seized upon the faint hope that bloomed in her heart. She reached out and took Mina’s hands in her own. “Every word was true, Mina,” she said. “I love you. And I don’t care if it’s natural or not.”

Mina drew away, and Lucy’s heart sank. Had she made the wrong choice?

“I can’t pretend to understand this,” Mina said. “You have always been a true friend, and I have loved you like a sister. While Jonathan boasted to his friends that he would convince me to abandon my dreams of the university once we were wed, you have been supportive and celebrated my studies. I’ve missed you these few days as well. I don’t want to lose you from my life.”

“I will always be here for you,” Lucy promised. “No matter what. You are the most intelligent woman I know. Anything a man can do, you can do just as well, if not better. I envy you.”

Mina laughed lightly, and the sound pushed away some of the chill in Lucy’s heart. “I have always envied you as well,” she said as she sat down once again on the edge of the bed. “You are so beautiful and confident.”

Lucy tentatively reached for Mina’s hand again, relieved when she didn’t pull away. “What now?” she asked. “Do you want to pretend I never said anything?” Her heartbeat quickened; she wasn’t sure she could do that anymore.

“I could no more ask you to not be true to yourself than you could tell me to put aside my studies and become a proper wife,” Mina said, shaking her head. “It would be wrong. But I don’t know…I am not sure…I do not want to cause you more pain than I already have.”

“As long as you are still my friend, then you needn’t fear that,” Lucy said, giving Mina’s hand a squeeze.

“I need time to think,” Mina pleaded. “I need to sort out how I feel. Promise me you’ll give me that time?”

“Of course, darling,” Lucy promised. “Whatever you need.”

A maid arrived with a tray of tea and cookies, and talk turned to other things. After finishing her cup, Mina said she had to return to the university to do some work, but she’d visit again soon if Lucy still wasn’t feeling well.

Once Mina had left, Lucy flung back her blankets and got out of bed. In the space of less than an hour, her mood had gone from misery to tentative hope. As long as Mina still wanted her in her life, well, anything was possible.


End file.
